A business line or number allows you to have freephone and local area code numbers on the same cell phone. All separate work independently. You can have all your business numbers and lines forwarded to the same phone or each forwarded to a different phone. You can of course add, change or delete your business lines at any time through your app or directly with the provider. Stop receiving unwanted calls as numbers can easily be blocked – very handy for those annoying telemarketing calls.
Personalised business voice mail…Of course none of us want to be getting busines calls going to our personal voice mail. You will get a separate voice mailbox for each of your phone numbers/profiles. When you receive a call on any line or profile be it work or personal, you will be prompted to take the call or send it to your voicemail. You can also personalise the greeting for each phone line and receive the voice mail via email in addition to playing back from voice mail.
Keeping your work and personal life separate can be difficult when you are running a small business. As you are usually the point of contact for all issues and queries, your phone can be ringing at all hours. With an additional business line on your mobile, it is very easy to separate your work and personal calls by adding a business line to your personal cell or smart phone. Modern cell phones can easily accommodate multiple phone numbers with or without an additional SIM.
Adding a business line to your cell phone opens up many benefits: Gives you the flexibility of working from anywhere and nicely limits who you give your personal number out to. It also allows you see who is calling and enables you to screen calls.
Of course, you’ve always got choices — from free business phone services to VoIP systems. If you’re looking to add a business line, factors you need to bear in mind while you consider your options include:
- Cost – Don’t necessarily go for cheapest option if it means giving up quality of service for price
- Features – Only choose and pay for what you will need and use. Voicemail transcription? Auto attendant?
- User friendly -. You’re busy. How much time do you want to spend figuring out how to install and use a second phone line?
- International calls – Do you need these included? Do you call internationally?
- Land line – Do you also need to add a business line to a landline?
- Support from provider – Is quality support available 24/7 if you need help with the system?
One mobile phone, two numbers is becoming more and more popular. By adding a business line to your smartphone, you can keep your personal and business calls separate and all without having to carry around an extra mobile/cell phone. Quick and efficient way or looking more professional by having a dedicated business line. Adding a business line to a personal mobile phone couldn’t be more straightforward and hassle free. There are different ways to add a business line to your Android or iOS phone, and are available from many providers. One phone, two numbers is the new normal with mobile devices.
The many advantages of adding a business line include and are not limited to:
- Being able to identify instantly if a call is personal or work related
- Keep your personal number private
- Don´t listen but read your voicemail and prioritise your replies
When you are a start-up or an entrepreneur it is very easy to think that since you own a cell phone you should just use that to make and receive business calls. And while this might work for you and your business in the first instance or short term the truth is that today’s businesses still need to have a dedicated business phone number from a customer´s perspective if nothing else.
But absolutely no more need to pay a big provider for an extra business line! Easier and cheaper ways are now available. Phone services have well and truly evolved and gone digital and with one of today’s most used VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) providers, you can easily purchase a business line that forwards calls directly to your personal cell phone. Then you can add this number to your website, business email signature and marketing literature, directories to look more legitimate, professional, and avoid sharing your personal cell phone or home phone line with the public.
Using your personal phone number is risky and not protecting your private life. Your name is attached to your personal number and by giving it out to everyone, you are opening yourself up to personal security threats. Your social media accounts are connected to your phone number and if you have any private information in there a hacker can easily gain access.
If you have employees and they are using their personal phone numbers to conduct business, then you are giving up any control over that area of your business. If you have customers calling employees when they are not at work it could affect the reputation of your company. Furthermore, telemarketers can be a huge time and energy drainer. According to Consumer Reports a high percentage are pre-recorded marketing messages. This is usually frustrating and takes time away from serving your actual customers.
Using your cellphone as your main business line disrupts a healthy work-life balance. You do not want to be too accessible to clients, and if you are able to turn off your phone whenever you want, it will give you the proper accessibility without risking your personal time.
One of the popular choices for VoIP a start-up or SME is Google Voice. Bonus is that they offer a free version which can be a nice way to try it out, but the free option is lacking in some of the best features for businesses, so most agree to pay a reasonable price for extra features. And if you already have G Suite or are thinking of using G Suite for your company, you will realise that the paid version of Google Voice is by far the best option as they work seamlessly together.
Easy to use – Google Voice is straightforward and simple to use. First, you set up a Google Voice number. You have the choice to choose your existing business phone number with the paid version of Google Voice for G Suite, which is great if you’re a business that is embracing a distributed workforce.
Next, you should connect your new business phone line with your other phone numbers. This can be connected to any smartphone or landline that you or your team members already own theferoe avoiding any extra costs buying other phones or equipment.
Features that are useful: There are plenty of added features with Google Voice such being able to customise your forwarding options and even to block unwanted numbers or callers such as telemarketers.
A favourite feature is the voicemail to text transcription which is like gold for those who are extremely busy because it takes one of your voicemail messages and sends it in word version to you in either an email or a text message! Easy way of managing in this service is to have voicemails and text messages from Google Voice sent directly to your Gmail inbox organising all your communication to one central place, efficient use of time. Another top feature is that the Google Voice App can make calls from your Google Voice number. It is a great option for businesses who are either completely digital or simply have no need for a physical landline commonly because their employees work remotely
Become one with VoIP and Google Voice and use your cell phone as a business line. Using is VoIP is the best telephone service option if you are running a business in 2020 as it will keep your work and private life separate, as well as have the option to direct your business line to any phone that you or your team desires.
Best to identify your business needs and establish reasons why people call your company… instead of looking for information on their website or trying to get it another way. More than half of people surveyed said they called to get a quick answer, to talk to a real person in real time or because they needed more information than they felt they could get from a website.
People also said they felt like they could get more accurate information from a phone call than was available anywhere else and also because it is deemed the most convenient way to get an answer there and then.
To decide which type of service to use for your business line, review information about the calls you’re currently getting. See what types of questions people typically ask? If most of them just want hours and directions, that information could be very easily provided through a voice recording. If they want to know about inventory, make an appointment or to compare pricing that may require a real person.
What happens when calls go to voicemail? How much revenue might be lost when calls aren’t answered before being hung up? How much of your time are you spending answering and returning phone calls? Interruptions disrupt your concentration and cut into your productivity. Take a look through your call log and calculate how much time you lose in a week and convert into money.
Do you already use a receptionist? If so, what additional functionality do you hope to gain by adding a business line to your smartphone? Once you have this type of information you are pretty much ready to compare choices like for example Talkroute, Ruby Receptionist and Grasshopper.
Some choices even include a virtual receptionist who is a live person. When people call your business number, someone who represents your business does everything you would expect an actual receptionist to do. To the customer, it feels like they connected with someone sitting behind the desk at your physical business address. A virtual receptionist is able to fulfil duties such as:
- Answer incoming call from customer or potential clients
- Transfer to a relevant department or employee depending on the query
- Take messages and pass them on accordingly
- Answer frequently asked questions
- Access schedules to set up appointments with various members of staff
- After sales follow up
A virtual receptionist is different from an answering service and some customers prefer and feel safer straight away. Answering services are impersonal and can only do basic tasks like forwarding calls and taking messages but virtual receptionists are trained on your service or product and without question sound like they are part of your central office.
How can a Virtual Receptionist best you answering and taking your own calls?
You may have been taking calls yourself because it just seemed like the most efficient thing to do. No one knows your business better than you do. You might reason a receptionist would have to forward a large number of the calls to you anyway, so why not just take them to begin with. Don’t customers appreciate getting straight to the one person who knows it all? Well…not always actually. When an owner answers the business phone, consumers tend to wonder why…am I the only customer? Not busy due to lack of customers? Not busy or successful enough to be able to pay extra staff?
But, by having a virtual receptionist the perception is that your time is valuable. It also says you value callers enough to provide a live person to connect them with the queries they want answered or helped with. Good customer service and reviews go a long way. Virtual receptionist are available in your home country so that they sound local to your customer base. Provider of virtual receptionists are strict about hiring only friendly, energetic and professional sounding candidates. They offer the appropriate greeting per time zone and give known callers familiar treatment.
